Benjamin

What Benjamin means

Means “son of the right/south or son of days”

From Late Latin Benjamin, from Ancient Greek Βενιαμίν (Beniamín), from Biblical Hebrew בִּנְיָמִין (binyamīn, literally “son of the right/south or son of days”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Benjamin” (revision 94586442), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Benjamin?

US: Steady: #10 in 2015, #11 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #30 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1981, when 14,360 boys got the name (#32 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 175 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 337 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 468 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in RI (14.4 per 1,000 boys), VT (12.38 per 1,000 boys), AK (12.32 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Benjamin is #11 in the US and #61 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Benjamin were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Benjiman11 US
• Benjamyn7 US
• Benjamen7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Benjamin

Boys

• Jacob#43“May He Heel”^*
• Zachariah#536“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• Samuel#18“God has set or God has placed”^*
• Mathew#973Variant of Matthew, meaning “gift of the Lord”^*
• Nathaniel#140“God has given”^*
• Toby#977Form of Tobias, meaning “my good is YHWH”^*

For a sister

• Ariel#355“lion of God”^*
• Anna#107Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #44 in 2015, #107 in 2025
• Abigail#41“my Father's joy”^*
• Hannah#56“grace, gracious, graced with child”^*
• Abby#731Diminutive of Abigail, meaning “my Father's joy”^*
• Joanna#306“God is gracious”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Benjamin’s. Rank is US 2025.